Christmastime

Thanksgiving

Can I just say that this is 1/4 of the pies that were actually created and waiting in the fridge. It was heavenly indulgence. We had to shoo away the kids to actually cut into them.

There were 31 people there but it still felt very homey.



Maya is in a beginning dance class and she is really having fun.


Grandma's backyard

Our first month

our upstairs living area. You can see the loft above where the three kids decided to all sleep. We moved the bunk bed up there and are going to keep a mattress under the bottom bunk. I love that they all love being together and it works fine for now.


Our downstairs living and dining area. I don't think I got the rest of the house and I'm not sure why.

We are officially through with our first month here in Templeton/Atascadero. Kurt's practice is doing better than expected. There are a few minor things we are working through with one of the insurance companies. I am loving the weather here, the scenery, the schools. To be completely honest it's going to take more time to really like it since it's so new and it takes so long to get to know people. BUT I have started something that is building my character. I now wake up every MWF at 4:40 am to meet some girls for an hour long run. This area is really hilly and there are hardly any streetlights. We use headlamps to see. The other day we heard a large animal in the grass and my friend with the headlamp shined her light toward it like it was a light saber until it ran the other way. It was a deer-a very scary deer.

Kurt and Maya's birthdays were a huge highlight. We had a rainbow party for Maya at the park the Friday before her birthday. We had a pizza dinner,a rainbow pinata ,made fruit loop necklaces and I bought two big bags of skittles and separated them out to make a rainbow then everyone guessed on how many there were. The winner got the skittles. Kurt's parents and sister showed up to surprise him the evening of their actual birthday. Unfortunately we didn't buy our camera until after the Maya rainbow party. We do have pics of their b-day night though.

My amazing brother Steve is having an open house in Salt Lake City this Saturday. I wish I could be there but I live too far away. Sad, yes, story of my life... If any of you wish to see his this GORGEOUS house in Holladay, you can RSVP at tiekbuilthomes.com. I got to see the house when I came up to Utah this spring. It is soooo beautiful. I love all the custom work and original designs Steve came up with. You can see some of it on his webite and blog too. If you decide to go you HAVE to look at the before pictures of the house. You won't believe that it's actually a remodel.

after, before and after

I decided to redo this cabinet and mirror. I found them at an estate sale for $35. I thought about sanding down the whole thing and doing a watered down blue stain but after starting to sand realized there was only a layer of wood then laminate underneath. Plus the detail work would have been a royal pain to sand. So instead, I spray painted it. My camera doesn't do well with indoor lighting so you can't see the edges where I antiqued it. I think it turned out pretty good. I don't like having it right next to a different white (the door) but since we won't live in this rental forever I'm not too worried.


Here it is before...

and after.
Eventually I want to find a little sign about heading to the beach or something. Those are shells in those glass vases.

February

Disneyland in January

We went to Disneyland with the Owens in January. They flew down to see us and spend a vacation in California. The weather was so nice. Best weather for Disneyland we've had so far this year and it was in Jan.





Everyone was getting tired of walking by this point.

All of us on the Pirate's ride. Well, almost all...

We realized we needed to rearrange a few things if we wanted the stroller to stay upright even with Maya in it. Does this mean we brought too much to carry or that Maya needs to gain a few pounds. Both, I'm sure.

One of my new favorite bands is Plain White T's. It all started with "Hey There Delilah" and lately I love the song "body parts" but my all time favorite of theirs is "Rhythm of Love"

Anyway, thought I'd share.

There is so much that goes on everyday and I just don't seem to have a chance to download and upload pics and post on my blog. I will try to do some of that today.

We are loving California weather in the winter time. I think maybe eventually I'll miss snow but then again, maybe not.

Today we had a really great FHE on Families being together for eternity. We talked about heaven and seeing our family there and all the friends we make here on earth and how the end of this life is not the end of everything. It was one of those FHE where the kids were asking questions and participating and there was such a good feeling. (It might have helped that Reagan had to go to bed early) I love nights like these.

I miss all my friends that I've made and moved away from. But it was nice remembering that some day we'll be able to see each other anytime. That goes for family as well...

Christmas is come and gone...and it felt like spring here today. It was 70! 70 in January! I took a blanket in the backyard and just enjoyed the sun while listening to a conference talk on my ipod. Kurt joined me and fell asleep after 2 seconds. About an hour and a half later Natalie comes running outside telling us that there is smoke coming from the oven. Kurt had failed to mention that he had just put the last batch of cookies in before he zonked off. There was no real damage done other than the house smelling terrible for the rest of the day. Good thing we could open all the windows! I am only mentioning this because normally it would have been me that left the cookies so it was nice to see it can happen to anyone.

So, well I guess a blog post isn't a good one without pictures so I'll put some random ones on here:

For Maya's preschool class we took a field trip to see the dentist.




Kurt got to coach both the kid's soccer teams. The weather was great all fall and we had a lot of fun watching all the games. This is one of Lincoln's many goals. You can't tell he made the goal but you can see the ref giving the goal signal.